1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a system and a method for building a point of sale (POS) system to manage business operations. The business operations range from a single branch to a large chain of stores or branches.
More particularly this invention relates to an online, web-based point of sale builder method, which can assist non-expert business operators in assembling a point of sale system to manage their businesses.
2. Description of Related Art
Current practice in the field of assembling point of sale systems includes manually coding front-of-screen information. Typically, this front-of-screen information contains menu selections, page selections, and general answers to business questions. This front-of-screen menu is typically manually coded by a business expert with the help of a programmer or data expert. Also, currently the entry of this front-of-screen information requires intimate knowledge of a complex interface to a front-of-screen programming language. In summary, current practice includes the manual building of a point of sale (POS) screen. This manual process requires defining the position and operation of touch screen keys and their database correspondence. Currently, only specially trained people can build or change POS screens. This manual POS building and editing is prone to mistakes and is time-consuming. Since POS screen changes are difficult and prone to error, store owners tend to retain older, inaccurate, out-of-date POS screens in order to avoid the POS screen editing process. Also, current POS screen editing occurs off-line with the testing of the screens occurring at a later date, at a remote store location. The following references represent prior art in the field of screen configuration building.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,818,428 (Eisenbrandt et al.) describes a control system with a user configurable interface, particularly suitable for use in connection with appliances. Users can configure display screens either at a point of sale location or at home with a personal computer.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,629,080 B1 (Kolls) describes a universal advertising and payment system and method for networking, monitoring and advancing electronic commerce and controlling vending equipment.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,051,091 B1 (Cohen et al.) discloses a configuration builder useful in configuring software containing hardware units which are serviced by a center which services a multiplicity of similar units having a plurality of different configurations.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,987,426 (Goodwin) describes a system and method of transferring information between a first software application and a second software application which employ an isolation layer. The system includes a client computer system provided by a first seller of computer systems, including a client software application, and a server computer system provided by a second seller of computer system.